how far have we come?

more than thirty years ago, the summer before i graduated from high school, i served as a youth representative to my church denomination's state assembly. it took place at the penn state (johnstown) campus. it would have been mostly memorable for the time i spent on the handball courts and at the pong machine but for one notable exception: the rev. martin luther king, sr. was the keynote speaker.

i don't remember much about rev. king, but i do have a few clear memories: i shook his hand and thanked him for being there. he smiled and sincerely thanked me for having him (as if a mere teenager wielded that sort of power or influence). he struck me as a quietly proud, dignified gentleman, not unlike my grandfather.

i was old enough to be keenly aware of the impact rev. king and his family had on the civil rights movement; i had vivid memories of martin luther king, jr.'s assassination. i knew rev. king had to be an extraordinary man to influence and inspire his son. i was amazed that he could speak to us about him (among other things) so recently after his wife's tragic murder. the pain and grief had to be immense.

today, as barack obama becomes the 44th president of the united states, i am thinking about rev. king and the personal sacrifices he (and so many others) made so that we could reach a point in our history where a man -- finally -- wasn't judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. when i see racists, pessimists, neocons (who are mostly racists and pessimists in denial), historical revisionists, et al. trying to cast a pall over this remarkable achievement, i am saddened and troubled.

as we bask in this shining moment in our nation's history, let's take time to consider the road that has taken us this far -- and acknowledge that we still have quite a distance to go.

how to solve america's "financial crisis"

i'm terrible at math. i do know how to balance my checkbook, though. one financial fact remains constant, regardless of your checkbook balancing abilities: if you don't spend more than you have your checkbook will balance (eventually!), and you won't bounce checks and need to borrow money to make ends meet. that financial fact is lost on corporate america when it comes to their dysfunctional business dealings with citizens. and worse yet, government has become corporate america's enabler, looking for a way to bail out wall street when they've made bad business decisions, mostly by loaning americans more money than they should have.

many americans are at fault, too. if you're making $60,000 a year (for argument's sake), why in the world do you need a $500,000 home? is it any wonder checkbooks aren't balancing on either side of this issue?

of course, i am oversimplifying this. i'm not alan greenspan or even suze orman. but being the simple person i am, i've come up with a simple solution: the u.s. population is currently a little more than 300 million. instead of spending $700 BILLION bailing out wall street, just give each and every citizen a one-time, tax free "economic stimulus payment" (esp) of $1 million.

do you really want that $500,000 home? now you can pay off the mortgage! ridiculous balances on credit cards? gone! no medical insurance? now you can afford it! do you have student loan debt or fret over tuition for your kids? no more worries!

we could take it one step further and designate that half a million from this esp goes directly into an ira, leaving each citizen with a cool half million to spend. either way, talk about stimulating the economy!

once your cool mil (or half mil) is gone, you're out of luck. if you get yourself into financial trouble you'll have to find your way out. and there won't be anymore economic stimulus payments for oh, let's say, 50 years, so spend and invest wisely.

you get the idea. as with most issues, with a little creative thinking and less bipartisanship and one-upsmanship from our political leaders, it could work. they'd have to make a drastic change in their mindset and put citizens rather than corporate america first, which admittedly is a more difficult issue to solve than this "financial crisis." but hey, i'm willing to give them a few weeks to sort it out -- i think i can afford to wait that long!